Merging virtual and real processes

Controller generation SINUMERIK ONE presented in the Fill Future Dome

The Sinumerik Info Days were held on 4 – 5 March 2020 at the Fill Future Dome in Gurten, Upper Austria. Around 90 trade visitors received a detailed introduction to the pioneering CNC system for highly productive machine tools at this event. During the course of live presentations, they saw for themselves how productivity can be increased and how the interaction of virtual and real worlds works in practice.

SINUMERIK ONE – under this name, Siemens has developed a completely new generation of machine tool controllers. As a longstanding innovation partner, Fill was invited to pilot test this latest controller generation. In only eight months of development, the Upper Austrian machine engineering experts succeeded in implementing the controller and its operating components in the Fill syncromill h machining center. The highlight of this development is realization of the native digital twin. This allows the software architecture to be tested and optimized before the production process begins. This itself leads to a huge increase in the productivity of machines and systems. SINUMERIK ONE is far more than a high-performance hardware innovation. Thanks to the digital twin, it is the key element in the digital transformation and helps simulate and test work processes completely virtually.

International involvement

23 leading international machine engineering companies took part in the Siemens SINUMERIK ONE project. Only two of these companies were from Austria, but Fill played a key role. In only eight months of development, the new controller was implemented in a syncromill h machine tool. This development led to realization of the native digital twin – a virtual machine that optimizes the actual production processes in advance. From the concept to the finished process, this digital twin allows machine and system productivity to be increased before actual manufacturing begins. Comprehensive digitalization over the entire lifecycle and quicker response times with increasing variant diversity and shorter production times are now a reality with the new SINUMERIK ONE controller generation.

Fill is a leading international machine and plant manufacturing company serving diverse branches of industry. The family-owned business excels in the use of the latest technology and methods in management, communication, and production. Business operations encompass the fields of metal, plastics and wood for the automotive, aviation, sport, and building industries. The company is the global market and innovation leader in aluminum core removal technology, casting technology, wood bandsaw technology, as well as in ski and snowboard production machines. Andreas Fill and Wolfgang Rathner are joint CEOs of the company founded in 1966 that is still completely family-owned and now has more than 920 employees. In 2018, the company recorded sales of around 160 million euros.